Heads Or Tails?
by So Long Astoria
Summary: Tails Goes For A Spin In His Modified Biplane, But Something Goes Wrong...
1. Oblivious

It was a beautiful spring day over the Emerald Coast. Miles "Tails" Prower was flying low over the blue expanse of ocean, two tails spinning like rotor blades. He was going slowly, with eyes closed and he sighed, taking in the sun and scents of new flowers, and slowed even more. He re-opened his blue eyes, scanning the glorious view.  
  
'Aha- There he is.' He mused, rising majestically through the air currents towards the large, camouflaged secret hangar in the Mystic Ruins, where the familiar blue hedgehog, Sonic, was tapping his foot in impatience.  
  
'Hey buddy, you're late!' he accused as the fox landed next to him.  
  
'Sorry Sonic, the I lost track of time, the sea is so refreshing this time of year and-'  
  
'It's my turn to apologise Tails,' started Sonic, 'I can't go.'  
  
'Not again. Soniiic!' pleaded Tails.  
  
'I gotta dash- Eggman's sent some badniks to the Green Hill Zone. See ya round!' And with that, he sped off in a blue flash.  
  
'Bye,' Tails grumbled to himself, 'Just on my own again. Oh well, I'll go anyway.'  
  
The mud track atop the cliff split in two and moved outwards, revealing a tarmac runway. The large doors to the hangar slid open slowly. Tails put the small, buttoned pad in the glove box in the blue biplane. Tornado 3 trundled out to the runway, speeding up as it went along.  
  
'Sonic is gonna miss seeing the new refinements in their first practical test.' Said Tails, pressing the odd button and flicking the odd switch until he was at full throttle. Tornado 3 lifted slowly into the air like a mouse gently lifted by a bird of prey and set off over the ocean.  
  
'Right- added feature 1- the turbo boost.' Tails informed himself, putting a certain key (marked with a red blob of paint) into a hole and turning it left 90 degrees. Then he flicked the left-most switch on the dashboard. Suddenly the plane stopped, then almost immediately the back opened and an eight-foot flame shot out, causing the plane to shoot forwards with a burst of speed and a huge amount of G-force.  
  
'WOOOOHOOOOO!' screamed Tails and looked delightedly at the speedometer- 252mph! He tilted the plane left and screamed round in a wide arc. What Tails didn't notice was a small piece of left flank tear off.  
  
* * * 


	2. Something's Wrong

'Activating added feature 2- engage!' Tails reminded himself. He picked up a green-coded key and slotted it into it's hole, then turned it left 90 degrees just as he did with the other one. He flicked another switch. Two hatches opened on either side and to metal shafts came out like extra wings, both with two X-FIRE missiles attached. Tails picked up the button pad from the glove box and pressed the second from the right button. Three whirring noises from the hangar signalled the readiness of the missile test. Tails pushed yet another button on the pad and three rockets spiralled upwards, where they stopped and parachutes popped out from behind them. Tails manoeuvred Tornado 3 to point towards all three in turn, and at each one a little marker on the on-board computer shaped like a + came up.  
  
'Locked on!' shouted Tails. He pulled out a long lever, then turn a knob to 65 degrees and press the red "FIRE" button. On each side one of the rockets sped away from the biplane and blew the rockets to smithereens, thus causing them to shower a rain of sparkling glitter down to rest on the softly braking ocean. One missile remained, floating down, swinging from side to side. Tails turned the knob to 120 degrees and pressed the "FIRE" button again. The left X-FIRE missile shot directly towards the last firework. It blew up and a giant orange picture lit up the sky. Tails chuckled to himself, if only Sonic was here to see his own face in the sky! Tails had manufactured that last firework to show a picture of himself two days ago.  
  
'Right- time to test the last upgrade.' Tails piped up. He pushed in a lever and turned it 90 degrees right. Then, he uncapped a small red switch, not unlike a light switch. He pressed it. The right side turned inside-out, revealing the landing gear. BEEP BEEP! Tails looked at the computer.  
  
'Oh no! The left landing gear is jammed.' He said frantically. The computer showed a 3D picture of the left side. 'The latch is caught!' he exclaimed. The piece which fell of earlier had hit the latch!  
  
'Prepare for crash landing!' Tails called to himself. He was swerving left and right and ducking and climbing- the landing gear on the right was causing off-balance to Tornado 3. It ducked round in a spin away from the shore. It was going down. 


	3. Beachcomber

'AAAAAAAAGH!' Tails Wailed, 'My pride and joy! It'll be wrecked. NOOOO!!!' Tornado 3 continued to spiral down. Only water filled his view. Tails was right- it was going to be wrecked.  
  
Suddenly Tails thought of an idea.  
  
'I've got it!' he exclaimed. He pressed the switch back down. The landing gear folded back in. Tails pulled with all his might at the steering wheel.  
  
'Pull up! Pull up God dammit!!!' he screamed. Tornado 3 started its climb back up but Tails could still only see water.  
  
'C'mon! C'mon you hunk of crap!!!' Tornado 3 was slowly righting itself.120 degrees, 115 degrees, 110 degrees, 105 degrees. Still it plummeted down and Tails looked at the altimeter. It showed 187 ft. 100 degrees, 95 degrees and..  
  
SMASH! The plane hit the ocean with incredible force. Tails was jarred and was nearly knocked unconscious. SMASH! It hit the water again; this time Tails got whiplash and passed out.  
  
He awoke, but what he saw was a hazy dream of brown and orange and white. He fell asleep.  
  
When he awoke again, he noticed the orange brown and white was one of his tails, impressed into the sand in front of his eyes. Wait a minute- Sand? He managed to roll over. He looked left- there was a series of palm trees. He tilted his head more forward. There was a path leading into a jungle. He felt a tingling go up his legs. A few moments later he felt it again, only now it was up to his stomach. He looked down and saw the tide break over his tails and hands. He sat upright. He looked around. He was on an island, which, strangely enough, tails had never before encountered once when flying high above. The island was large, and as far as he could tell was surrounded by beach. He tried to get up, but winced with pain- his right wrist was sprained. He hauled himself up just on his left hand and looked into the crystal water. The sunlight shimmered gracefully along the tops of waves and then disappeared, only to resurface again moments later. He saw what looked like a piece of blue metal. His heart sank.  
  
'Tornado!' He ran forwards into the water. There, in front and a little bit left was the familiar shape of Tornado 3.  
  
'Oh no. How am I expected to fix it now?' he whined, 'And one of the wings is missing.' He turned and began into the jungle.  
  
* * * 


End file.
